Riley Gouge Robinson: A Life Lived on the Margins, Remembered At Last
Some ancestors leave behind thick trails of records, stories and descendants. Others - like Riley Gouge Robinson , born about 1835 in Cole County, Missouri - leave only faint traces. But faint does not mean unimportant And forgotten is not the same as gone. Riley was my 3rd-great-granduncle , the eldest known child of Nelly Gouge and an unknown father . His life was shaped by circumstances far beyond his control, and after his mother's death, he lived almost entirely on the edges of society. Yet he deserves to be remembered with accuracy, empathy, and respect. Early Life and Family Riley was born in Cole County and grew up in his mother's household. Over the next twelve years, Nelly had several more children -- all listed as his half-siblings : Dellcenia (1840) William Gilbert (1841) Serena (1843) Luthena (1844) Milla (1845) Joshua N. (1846) John A. (1847) The 1850 census places Riley, age 16, living with his mother. The enumerator recorded him as "idiot" - a term...